Generally, with advancements in technology, people are becoming more reliant on electromagnetic spectrum for a multitude of reasons. For example, mass media is distributed via cellular, broadcast, and satellite networks that employ radio frequency spectrum. Furthermore, several wireless technologies including Bluetooth, WiFi and infrared are dependent on the electromagnetic spectrum for functioning, such as, for providing telecommunication and/or for distribution of information. Moreover, the electromagnetic spectrum is being increasingly utilized in areas like public safety, national security, medical science (such as in wireless medical devices) and so forth.
However, the electromagnetic spectrum is a limited resource. In earlier days, distribution and use of spectrum resources (or radio resources) was relatively easy, owing to a small number of uses thereof. However, with an increase in use of the electromagnetic spectrum in different areas, a need therefor has increased manifold. Such a need can be partially addressed by more efficient use of available radio resources, such as, by spectrum sharing. Spectrum sharing refers to simultaneous usage of unused radio resources (such as specific radio frequency bands) associated with a radio network, by users of another radio network within a specific geographical area. Furthermore, this can be achieved using a spectrum management entity that helps to improve spectrum usage efficiency and quality of service (QoS) for the users of the different networks operating in a shared spectrum environment.
Usually, for reservation of radio resources in a shared spectrum environment, a significant amount of information is required to be presented to all entities operating therein. For example, an entity providing their spectrum resources for sharing may require information associated with number of users using their radio resources, frequency bands that are reserved by the users, locations associated with such reservations, time period of reservation and suchlike. Moreover, the users using the shared radio resources will require information associated with availability of the radio resources for sharing, such as a location of available radio resources, time period of such availability, frequency bands that are available for sharing, radio resources that have been already been used, and so forth. Therefore, such information is needed to be presented to a plurality of entities for easy visualization and convenient consumption thereof. However, presentation of such information associated with several variables encompassing different domains such as time, location, frequency and so forth becomes a challenging task, especially when the information is required to be presented in a static, 2-dimensional medium (such as a single display screen or a printed page).
Therefore, in light of the foregoing discussion, there exists a need to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks associated with representation of radio resource usage information.